Fitbit Announces First Wave of Partners to Develop Apps for the
Everyday Health and Fitness System

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitbit,
creators of award-winning digital tools to help you get more fit during
your busy life, today unveiled key partners that are developing the
first applications using the Fitbit beta API for the evolvinghealth
and fitness platform. The Fitbit
API allows third-party developers to interact with Fitbit data in
their own applications, products and services and also to read and write
data for users’ Fitbit activities, food logs and other data in real time.

Personal health monitoring sites including RunKeeper and Lose It!; the
personal analytics dashboard about.me; an innovative game to help you
meet your heath goals, Health Month; online health offerings like
Microsoft HealthVault and elite medical research facilities including
Massachusetts General Hospital are some of the first to take advantage
of the comprehensive Fitbit API.

In the last few months, these partners have created promising
applications with the Fitbit API, ideas ranging from the gamification of
data, new ways to display data in graphs and other dynamic
visualizations, data mash-ups with other personal health monitoring
tools, and deep integration with Twitter, Facebook, tablets, smart
phones and more.

“There is a growing ecosystem of websites, mobile apps and devices
designed to help people lead healthier lives. Building open and
symbiotic partnerships within this ecosystem is the next step in the
future of connected health,” said Tim Roberts, VP of Interactive of
Fitbit. “Our API is unique in that it allows developers real-time read
and write access to a broad range of users’ health and fitness data,
such as daily steps, calories burned, foods eaten and weight. Data
privacy remains a high priority, so users must provide permission for
the apps to access their data.”

“This integration between Health Month and Fitbit is very natural given
both our companies’ goals of improving health habits. Our blend of
social gaming mechanics and personal health is only further enhanced by
Fitbit, which increases the effectiveness of our tools while maximizing
user experience,” said Buster Benson, Founder of Health Month. “Working
with the Fitbit API was seamless and we’re thrilled to be one of the
first launch partners.”

The Tools and the Platform

The Fitbit
Tracker is an ultra-compact wearable device that clips onto clothing or
slips into a pocket. The device captures, through accelerometer
technology, information about daily health activities, such as steps
taken, distance traveled, calories burned, exercise intensity levels and
sleep quality. The activity data collected by the Fitbit Tracker
wirelessly uploads to the Fitbit website where users can view and
interact with the information and track progress toward personal and
group goals. Users can also log nutrition, weight and other health
information on the site in order to gain a complete picture of their
health.

“Connecting Fitbit to Microsoft HealthVault has enabled our users to
generate a more comprehensive view and understanding of how their
behavior affects their well-being,” said David Cerino, General Manager,
Microsoft Health Solutions Group. “By importing the data into
HealthVault, we are broadening the context in which individuals are
engaging with their data and driving more active participation in their
health and wellness.”

Just the Beginning

Fitbit offers a core data collection device for understanding daily
activity and sleep and it is also a compelling location for the
collection, visualization and sharing of health and fitness data. While
there’s no telling what third-party developers will continue to create
with the beta API, Fitbit anticipates seeing apps around data
visualization, data logging, the gamification of health data, tools and
widgets and clinical research.

RunKeeper and Lose It! will be both publishing data into Fitbit
and importing Fitbit data into their apps. This is a huge win for
users letting them get more control of their data and use the apps
they want when they want.

about.me users will be able to easily display real Fitbit stats
on their profile through use of the API.

Health Month added Fitbit support so that its members can
automatically fill in their number of miles walked, run, hours slept
and a meal diary.

Distinguished medical center Massachusetts General Hospital is
using Fitbit Trackers in a health and wellness research study, the API
allows them to access and analyze participants’ data.

“We are constantly looking for ways to give our users every edge to meet
and surpass their health and wellness goals. Creating an open data
mash-up with Fitbit was an easy way to delight our Fitbit owning members
and make it easier for them to manage that data they are collecting on a
day to day basis,” said Jason Jacobs, CEO of RunKeeper.

“With these partners we’ve seen great initial use of the API and we’re
excited to see what creative and innovative applications others come up
with,” said Roberts.